Class Recap 11/30

A Professor leading class discussion.

This week's class was on Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. We began with a presentation from Josh, who gave us biographical information about Defoe and explained how some of his life experiences are reflected in the details of the story. Josh also described several of the possible literary origins of the book. He didn't have time to elaborate on "Robinson Crusoe in Space," but maybe he'll tell you about it if you ask him.

Brandon followed with a presentation on the critical reception of Robinson Crusoe, the difficulty of identifying its formal genre (spiritual biography? guidebook? travel narrative?), its status as literature, and its continuing importance, all within the framework of the practices of current writers and teachers of fiction. A highlight for the class was Brandon's hand-drawn cartoon, "Crusoe is a Kid Killer."

The second half of the class period was devoted to discussing narrative strategies in Robinson Crusoe. We debated Damrosch's claim that Crusoe's psychology is essentially behaviorist; then we discussed the literal and symbolic significance of animals in book. We examined the role of the Journal as an internal text, and finally compared Defoe's narrative strategies with those of Milton and Bunyan.